Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
How about just traveling to countries that you are interested in without regard to how they view black men? If you are only interested in going to a place because you heard they like black men than you are going about it all wrong.

That isn;t my primary or even secondary goal when i go travel. Iwas just wondering why you slam so hard on about 90% of the places that you seemed to have been to. I'm no where near the traveler that you are or have been. But, good feedback is always valuable. But a lot of times, you seem to focus on the negatives and not highlight some of the positives as much in these places. I'm not asking for romanticized, rose-colored opinions. Just a little bit more balance is all i'm looking for.

I only mentioned the black/racial thing because I noticed in several of you posts you mentioned racial issues being a negative in places like Peru/Latin America and one of the Baltic States (I think it was Latvia or Estonia). I remembered the Baltic States comments because I have Riga on my bucket list.

I'm not interested in providing "balance." I give information people need to know about pitfalls and dangers so they keep themselves out of trouble. If you want "balance," ignore my posts. Better yet, why don't you go to some of these places like the Baltics or Ukraine or Russia and find out what I'm talking about? If you come back in one piece, you might find that the warnings I gave were quite appropriate.

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
How about just traveling to countries that you are interested in without regard to how they view black men? If you are only interested in going to a place because you heard they like black men than you are going about it all wrong.

That isn;t my primary or even secondary goal when i go travel. Iwas just wondering why you slam so hard on about 90% of the places that you seemed to have been to. I'm no where near the traveler that you are or have been. But, good feedback is always valuable. But a lot of times, you seem to focus on the negatives and not highlight some of the positives as much in these places. I'm not asking for romanticized, rose-colored opinions. Just a little bit more balance is all i'm looking for.

I only mentioned the black/racial thing because I noticed in several of you posts you mentioned racial issues being a negative in places like Peru/Latin America and one of the Baltic States (I think it was Latvia or Estonia). I remembered the Baltic States comments because I have Riga on my bucket list.

I'm not interested in providing "balance." I give information people need to know about pitfalls and dangers so they keep themselves out of trouble. If you want "balance," ignore my posts. Better yet, why don't you go to some of these places like the Baltics or Ukraine or Russia and find out what I'm talking about? If you come back in one piece, you might find that the warnings I gave were quite appropriate.

Balance wasnt the right choice of wording because it makes you think i'm looking for 50% good, 50% bad from eqch country. So that isnt really an accurate phrasing. I guess what i'm saying is that as a whole, you seem to have more things negative to say about most places. And i'm not disputing anything you are saying or have experienced... hell, i can't dispute it because you've had your boots on the ground in way more places. I'm just wondering if there is any place out there that seems to be to your liking besides southeastern europe and scandanavia? You indicated that you wished you had never learned spanish and find that russian language serves you better. Yet, you just stated that one can find themselves in a lot of trouble in russia, the ukraine and the baltics. All i'm trying to do is just understand where you are coming from. If russian serves you needs, but you have experienced trouble in 3 of the largest russian language areas, is belarus or some other FSU one of you favorites? If you have a favorite, just explain why you like it. I just cant imagine a guy like yourself loving to travel, yet not finding many places that interest you or that you feel comfortable/safe in. Please, dont take it as though i dont appreciate the warnings you give about many of these places. The warnings are informative and could very well keep me out of trouble.

ConEx,
I've read your posts on Albania and Rep. of Georgia (among other places) and it seems there's a pattern of trying to "bind" outsiders (us) to one particular faction or other to, in your words, hit up for money, favors, jobs, etc.

What's your take on the countries bounded (roughly) by the Adriatic, Med., Black & Danube -- from the point of view of simply living there and maybe running a business? Is property crime or corruption / shakedowns a major hurdle?

I'd include Greece & Turkey in the list, but I'm sort of wary of their prospects for the next decade. Of course, any insight on those places is welcome too.

не поглеждай назад.

"Even an American judge is unlikely to award child support for imputed children." - FredOnEverything

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
How about just traveling to countries that you are interested in without regard to how they view black men? If you are only interested in going to a place because you heard they like black men than you are going about it all wrong.

That isn;t my primary or even secondary goal when i go travel. Iwas just wondering why you slam so hard on about 90% of the places that you seemed to have been to. I'm no where near the traveler that you are or have been. But, good feedback is always valuable. But a lot of times, you seem to focus on the negatives and not highlight some of the positives as much in these places. I'm not asking for romanticized, rose-colored opinions. Just a little bit more balance is all i'm looking for.

I only mentioned the black/racial thing because I noticed in several of you posts you mentioned racial issues being a negative in places like Peru/Latin America and one of the Baltic States (I think it was Latvia or Estonia). I remembered the Baltic States comments because I have Riga on my bucket list.

I'm not interested in providing "balance." I give information people need to know about pitfalls and dangers so they keep themselves out of trouble. If you want "balance," ignore my posts. Better yet, why don't you go to some of these places like the Baltics or Ukraine or Russia and find out what I'm talking about? If you come back in one piece, you might find that the warnings I gave were quite appropriate.

Balance wasnt the right choice of wording because it makes you think i'm looking for 50% good, 50% bad from eqch country. So that isnt really an accurate phrasing. I guess what i'm saying is that as a whole, you seem to have more things negative to say about most places. And i'm not disputing anything you are saying or have experienced... hell, i can't dispute it because you've had your boots on the ground in way more places. I'm just wondering if there is any place out there that seems to be to your liking besides southeastern europe and scandanavia? You indicated that you wished you had never learned spanish and find that russian language serves you better. Yet, you just stated that one can find themselves in a lot of trouble in russia, the ukraine and the baltics. All i'm trying to do is just understand where you are coming from. If russian serves you needs, but you have experienced trouble in 3 of the largest russian language areas, is belarus or some other FSU one of you favorites? If you have a favorite, just explain why you like it. I just cant imagine a guy like yourself loving to travel, yet not finding many places that interest you or that you feel comfortable/safe in. Please, dont take it as though i dont appreciate the warnings you give about many of these places. The warnings are informative and could very well keep me out of trouble.

First of all, advocating Russian language has nothing to do with liking Russia and Ukraine. Russian language is useful in Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and to a lesser extent Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan. Those are places you can go. Russian is far less useful in the Baltics now for reasons of nationalism.

Also, If you would have read my reviews of Latin America more closely, you would have seen that I endorse Argentina as an exception to the other countries there.

Bottom line is, I am intentionally circumspect about specifically where you should travel. If I have not mentioned it as a place to avoid, than go there and explore. Black men in particular have this tendency to restrict themselves to certain places that they "heard" is appropriate for them. Get out of that mentality. For sure, there are particular places that Black men should AVOID for reasons of personal safety (Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Baltics), and other places where social bigotry tends to undermine the experience (Latin America with the exception of Argentina and Brazil). If I have not listed the country as a place to avoid, then you can consider it a place to travel, period.

My personal preferences are no importance to you because what is to say you have the same interests as I? Just because you are black does not mean we would like the same countries. So get out there and find the places that you like in your own right. My personal preferences are wholly irrelevent to you and vice versa.

Teal Lantern wrote:
ConEx,
I've read your posts on Albania and Rep. of Georgia (among other places) and it seems there's a pattern of trying to "bind" outsiders (us) to one particular faction or other to, in your words, hit up for money, favors, jobs, etc.

What's your take on the countries bounded (roughly) by the Adriatic, Med., Black & Danube -- from the point of view of simply living there and maybe running a business? Is property crime or corruption / shakedowns a major hurdle?

I'd include Greece & Turkey in the list, but I'm sort of wary of their prospects for the next decade. Of course, any insight on those places is welcome too.

Any clan-based society will have that characteristic of trying to formally bind you to a certain network or another without you even realizing it sometimes.

Apart from banking overseas, I am not keen on running a business overseas due to the pitfalls and lack of transparency issues. If I did engage in small business activity, it would be with a local partner who has a track record and simply needs financing. Even then it would be formalized in a contract by a local attorney and watched closely each day.

Greece is not a bad place to cheaply purchase property or a small business, but local purchasing power is at a low ebb now. Turkey is in a better situation than Greece, but they have their issues too with westerners being seen as "easy prey" to dupe.

Crime is always a threat that you must guard against, and in many cases, foreigners having business success while locals are suffering can bring nationalistic fervor down on your head. I was in Croatia when a band of local "toughs" destroyed a Chinese Restaurant that became too successful. Croatia is a wonderful country, but even it was not immune.

I have also seen foreigners get hassled by local tax authorities for things that they did not consider.

Stick to well-regulated banking sectors outside of the EuroZone and you should be fine.

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
My personal preferences are no importance to you because what is to say you have the same interests as I? Just because you are black does not mean we would like the same countries. So get out there and find the places that you like in your own right. My personal preferences are wholly irrelevent to you and vice versa.

I respect that, and I agree that we may not share the same interests just because we share the same skin color. I hope I haven't given you the impression that I believed we shared a bond just based on that. I was just asking for some affirmatives and positive feedback. But I've read your comments and see where you are coming from now. I do remember your comments about Argentina/Brazil. Very positive and some of the few comments from you that seemed to be positive.

Again, I was just trying to learn something from this site from people who had been more traveled than myself. Trust me, I'm not trying to invade your turf or just follow behind you because you gave it a thumbs up. I still want to go to Latvia and Estonia. I still plan on having a ball in Colombia (been there twice). I still want to return to Chile, in spite of the uglier women, poor cuisine and semi-American corporatism. And I hope to have fun in Peru, Vietnam & Kazakhstan. The last three countries are not your stereotypical "black man" vacation retreats, so it's not like I'm just going to troll around to where the brothers have been. I have my own interests, just as you have yours. But hopefully, I can leave each of these locations with some good stories along with the bad.

That's all I got. Thanks for the feedback and the explanation on your position. I will follow my own path and not necessarily let comments be an influence on where I travel. I will take any advice I receive and make a determination on if I want to take a chance on my own in spite of what was said.

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
Any clan-based society will have that characteristic of trying to formally bind you to a certain network or another without you even realizing it sometimes.

Apart from banking overseas, I am not keen on running a business overseas due to the pitfalls and lack of transparency issues. If I did engage in small business activity, it would be with a local partner who has a track record and simply needs financing. Even then it would be formalized in a contract by a local attorney and watched closely each day.

Greece is not a bad place to cheaply purchase property or a small business, but local purchasing power is at a low ebb now. Turkey is in a better situation than Greece, but they have their issues too with westerners being seen as "easy prey" to dupe.

Crime is always a threat that you must guard against, and in many cases, foreigners having business success while locals are suffering can bring nationalistic fervor down on your head. I was in Croatia when a band of local "toughs" destroyed a Chinese Restaurant that became too successful. Croatia is a wonderful country, but even it was not immune.

I have also seen foreigners get hassled by local tax authorities for things that they did not consider.

Stick to well-regulated banking sectors outside of the EuroZone and you should be fine.

Thanks ConEx.
Sounds like that incident in Croatia gives meaning to their banners that say "For the Homeland. Ready."

не поглеждай назад.

"Even an American judge is unlikely to award child support for imputed children." - FredOnEverything

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
My personal preferences are no importance to you because what is to say you have the same interests as I? Just because you are black does not mean we would like the same countries. So get out there and find the places that you like in your own right. My personal preferences are wholly irrelevent to you and vice versa.

I respect that, and I agree that we may not share the same interests just because we share the same skin color. I hope I haven't given you the impression that I believed we shared a bond just based on that. I was just asking for some affirmatives and positive feedback. But I've read your comments and see where you are coming from now. I do remember your comments about Argentina/Brazil. Very positive and some of the few comments from you that seemed to be positive.

Again, I was just trying to learn something from this site from people who had been more traveled than myself. Trust me, I'm not trying to invade your turf or just follow behind you because you gave it a thumbs up. I still want to go to Latvia and Estonia. I still plan on having a ball in Colombia (been there twice). I still want to return to Chile, in spite of the uglier women, poor cuisine and semi-American corporatism. And I hope to have fun in Peru, Vietnam & Kazakhstan. The last three countries are not your stereotypical "black man" vacation retreats, so it's not like I'm just going to troll around to where the brothers have been. I have my own interests, just as you have yours. But hopefully, I can leave each of these locations with some good stories along with the bad.

That's all I got. Thanks for the feedback and the explanation on your position. I will follow my own path and not necessarily let comments be an influence on where I travel. I will take any advice I receive and make a determination on if I want to take a chance on my own in spite of what was said.

Thanks, Con Ex.

Clue me in about Colombia for myself and my homie who keeps bring it up as a place he wants to visit.

I am concerned that the type of Colombian woman I typically like are one usually looking for Caucasian men not Black men to date. The few sites with photo's of couples or customers, I am very disappointed. Most of the women are of the dark variety and while I know some Black men are looking for surrogates to replace Black women, I am not doing that.

So where you able to date the light skinned women with European features??? I thought about going on an TLC (ilovelatins) tour but.... most of the women in their database, wow (the majority) not cute at all -

djfourmoney wrote:
Clue me in about Colombia for myself and my homie who keeps bring it up as a place he wants to visit.

I am concerned that the type of Colombian woman I typically like are one usually looking for Caucasian men not Black men to date. The few sites with photo's of couples or customers, I am very disappointed. Most of the women are of the dark variety and while I know some Black men are looking for surrogates to replace Black women, I am not doing that.

So where you able to date the light skinned women with European features??? I thought about going on an TLC (ilovelatins) tour but.... most of the women in their database, wow (the majority) not cute at all -

This is the first time I've seen a group of CO women with some variety to it. Usually they are all light, caked-on make up, and a blouse full of silly cones.
This crop even had a few who looked like they knew what a sandwich was.

не поглеждай назад.

"Even an American judge is unlikely to award child support for imputed children." - FredOnEverything

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:
My personal preferences are no importance to you because what is to say you have the same interests as I? Just because you are black does not mean we would like the same countries. So get out there and find the places that you like in your own right. My personal preferences are wholly irrelevent to you and vice versa.

I respect that, and I agree that we may not share the same interests just because we share the same skin color. I hope I haven't given you the impression that I believed we shared a bond just based on that. I was just asking for some affirmatives and positive feedback. But I've read your comments and see where you are coming from now. I do remember your comments about Argentina/Brazil. Very positive and some of the few comments from you that seemed to be positive.

Again, I was just trying to learn something from this site from people who had been more traveled than myself. Trust me, I'm not trying to invade your turf or just follow behind you because you gave it a thumbs up. I still want to go to Latvia and Estonia. I still plan on having a ball in Colombia (been there twice). I still want to return to Chile, in spite of the uglier women, poor cuisine and semi-American corporatism. And I hope to have fun in Peru, Vietnam & Kazakhstan. The last three countries are not your stereotypical "black man" vacation retreats, so it's not like I'm just going to troll around to where the brothers have been. I have my own interests, just as you have yours. But hopefully, I can leave each of these locations with some good stories along with the bad.

That's all I got. Thanks for the feedback and the explanation on your position. I will follow my own path and not necessarily let comments be an influence on where I travel. I will take any advice I receive and make a determination on if I want to take a chance on my own in spite of what was said.

Thanks, Con Ex.

Clue me in about Colombia for myself and my homie who keeps bring it up as a place he wants to visit.

I am concerned that the type of Colombian woman I typically like are one usually looking for Caucasian men not Black men to date. The few sites with photo's of couples or customers, I am very disappointed. Most of the women are of the dark variety and while I know some Black men are looking for surrogates to replace Black women, I am not doing that.

So where you able to date the light skinned women with European features??? I thought about going on an TLC (ilovelatins) tour but.... most of the women in their database, wow (the majority) not cute at all -

I met a nice woman in Cartagena (we didnt smash), but we went out several times and she seemed like a wonderful person. Very intelligent and new 4 languages. She was a black latina with a wonderful smile... something you just dont see in a lot of black women here in the states. The one reason why I continued to talk to her is because she knew English, but I'm convinced that my odds would increase significantly as my Spanish gets stronger. A lot of approachable women down there.

I had been to Scandinavia(including Iceland),Germany,France,Poland,Estonia,UK,Austria,Switzerland,Belulux,and Italy. Now I like to know what website to find these women or a website that covers a individual country in Europe?

Hey it looks like England might be good for black men. Look what BellaRuth told me. She said it was ok if I posted it.

BellaRuth wrote:One black American guy turned up here last summer, he worked in engineering or something similar. Loads of middle class white girls round him like flies! Verged on embarrassing, how much attention he got. I think he felt a bit overwhelmed. Thought you might find that interesting.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World